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As I said yesterday, I wanted to share a bit more about the decorating and goody bags from CT’s 3rd Birthday Party. I was very frazzled the day of, so all these photos were taken the day after! Just imagine cupcakes sitting on the white tray in the middle, some macarons on the two tiered tray and more “goody bags” in that white basket. Plus other odds and ends that were moved about.

It was a lot of fun to pick everything out, be it handmade, from a store or just from around the house. I didn’t go overboard, and I think it looked very cute and sweet. I really wish I had taken photos the day of!!!

I accidentally stumbled onto a color theme. It all started with those paper chains, I just picked out a multi pack of paper in what I thought were cute colors. After making them all (at night and in the car btw) I started to buy other things in the same colorways. All of the plastic silverware was in those colors, the last minute “Happy Birthday” banner matched (I meant to make one), even the flowers I found the night before matched! I sorta, kinda, accidentally made it all match! Ha. I love when things work out that way.

Oh and the wrapped picture frames! A lot of the guest liked those. I mainly did it because I felt the photos artwork underneath wasn’t really appropriate for a kid’s birthday party. It’s my Jordan Crane Triptych of a party with loads of booze on the ground, you can see it here. It’s fine for everyday viewing, just not a birthday.

I love the way it all looks, and I really don’t want to take it all down. Do I have to?

Ok, now onto the little chef hats…

These were a last minute idea! I mean, four days before the party last minute. I was flipping through the Fabric-by-Fabric One-Yard Wonders book to see if there were any xmas gifts I could make, when I came across the pattern for a kid’s adjustable chefs hat and apron. I read through the instructions and figured they wouldn’t be too hard to make, so I made a test one. The one above actually. It took me about 25 minutes from start to finish (I’ve been told I sew FAST, so it make take others longer). I figured 11 kids were coming, and that they would only take me an afternoon to make one for each. It kinda did. I ran out of some supplies halfway through and had to wait until I could go out and get them. Then I waited until the night before to attach the velcro, which wasn’t the best idea. But I’m glad I made them! All the kids looked soooo cute decorating their cupcakes while wearing chef hats!!

Now onto the goody bags, or in our case, balls! My original plan was to make the bags for the goody bags, but after seeing the over sized gumball machine capsules above, I changed my mind! How cool are they? We bought them in blue, green and purple. CT picked out a kazoo, mini view-master camera thingy, some chocolate and tattoos/stickers. I didn’t want to only have plastic trinkets in the balls though, so like an insane woman, I also made the crayon rolls! Another last minute idea. I felt crazy making them, so I didn’t even tell my husband what I was doing until I was halfway through. I didn’t want someone else thinking I was crazy too! They actually took less time then I thought they would and I was able to just use scrap fabric from my stash.

In the end it was all more work than I anticipated, but you know what? I felt great about the way the house looked and the things I sent home with each kid! Now they each have a chef hat for pretend play, and a crayon roll to take with them anywhere. Plus I made one of each for CT too. I wouldn’t change a thing, well, with the exception of having more sewing machine needles on hand.

I know there’s loads of tutorials online to make crayon rolls, I didn’t use any of them because of their sizes. Would anyone be interested in a tutorial to make these simple ones?

This weekend was pretty awesome! I was exhausted, but was happy to be out and about.

Saturday was Crafty Bastards. It is an Arts and Crafts Fair held in Washington DC. It’s pretty close to home and is almost always super busy, which is why I love the show so much.

Normally my husband or sister would help me at the show, but this year that just wasn’t in the cards. Instead, luckily, my friend Molly was able to help me! No offense to my husband or sister, but Molly was the absolute best helper I’ve ever had! Thank you! It made the show a bit calmer for me to have her there. Though the start of the show was of course hectic. I’m apparently not that great at giving directions (especially when im distracted by talking), so we missed a few exits and arrived late for set up. By the time we were done getting ready, shoppers were walking around, so the only picture I was able to get of my booth was the above one (it was my view of the booth all day). There were so many people I just couldn’t get a picture in any other direction. I need to get better with documenting things again. The show was great. It was in a new location, so I was a bit worried at first, but once the aisles filled up I felt fine. I sold a bunch of my new pieces, and I was able to see which pieces people liked more than others. That’s always useful. I was also able to see a bunch of old friends from the area and from other shows.

I was so tired from the week leading up to the show that I didn’t get up and shop as much as I usually do. I only gave myself the last 20 minutes to shop, so I was pretty much speed shopping! Ha. I did get a few neat things…

Above you can see the few items I got…

- The set of prints are by Berkley Illustration. They have loads of prints and it was really hard narrowing it down to two. If I had had more time I may have even purchased more. I just thought the Cowboy T-Rex print would complement are eclectic style the best , and the Hedgehog print is actually for someone else.

- The light aqua colored coyote skull is by Skullery. It’s actually a hand cast plastic replica. I talked to the artist for a minute or two, and found out that it is made out of the same material as my jewelry. How cool is that?!? I love odd things like this, but I only like replicas or faux versions. I just can’t bring myself to bring a real skull in the house, so these are perfect! I want more!!

- The large plush mushroom is by My Paper Crane. Heidi’s booth was actually right next to mine, and I saw this mushroom the second we started setting up. I love pretty much all the stuff she makes, but I am always drawn to the larger pieces. Larger pieces can be displayed on couches or on the ground. Perfect for someone running out of shelf space, like me. This particular piece is on the couch since CT thinks it’s hers. I tried to buy her something at the show, but they were sold out of her size, so since she’s careful with things I let her have the mushroom… for now.

This was the smallest, and quickest, shopping spree I’ve ever done at a show. I did collect a bunch of business cards from booths I really liked. So I may still get a few more items.

Crafty Bastards really was great this year, I really enjoyed it and I hope to do it again next year!!

Oh and Sunday I started holiday shopping, with a quick stop at an antique mall. It wasn’t AS exciting as Saturday, but I did find some neat things. I’ll share them tomorrow!

I tried out several patterns before I was happy with the outcome. The first few were commercial patterns I bought at Joanns. They never quite fit CT right, and the sizes were all wonky. Very disappointing, and such a waste of my time. In the end I found one on Etsy by Ruby Jeans Closet. The pattern is called the Peony Flower Girl Dress, and is absolutely perfect for simple princess dresses. The instructions were super easy to understand, you don’t need any hard to find supplies and the sizes are perfect! I also like the pattern because it’s easy to change up a bit, so I can make each dress a little different to fit whatever theme I want. One pattern can yield so many different dresses. I was only able to finish four dresses before our trip, but I have plans for so many more once things die down.

The first dress I was able to finish was a Minnie Mouse inspired dress. My original plan was to make it red and white polka dotted, but I remembered last minute that Minnie wears PINK on the Mickey Mouse Clubhouse, and CT knows her from that show. Luckily Joann’s has the same exact fabric in pink! I may go back and get the red and make a second dress, because it’s just too cute on her.

The only thing I changed on the pattern to make this dress was the waistband. In the instructions you’re supposed to put the band on the inside of the dress to hold the elastic, I put it on the outside to add a little detail. The next one I make I’m also going to put a little lace around the arm hole, just beacuse.

Oh and funny thing, CT is doing a robot dance in the first photo, It’s really funny and cute in person.

The second dress is Marvel Comics themed. This dress kinda happened by accident. While I was picking out the fabric for the rest of the dresses, my husband was wandering the store with CT. He found this fabric and asked me what we could make with it. I was still in “lets make dresses” mode, so I said I’d make CT a dress out of it. Since Disney is now associated with Marvel, I thought why not make it for the trip! I didn’t know what to call it, but by the end of the trip I said CT was dressed up as a comic book store. Ha, that totally confused people.

I did change the pattern a bit more for this dress. I cut the pattern on the line meant as a waistband guide, so that I could use two different fabrics (I thought an entire dress made out of this would be a bit much) I also added some of the patterned fabric to the sleeves as casing for the elastic. I think it added a nice little touch to the dress.

The third dress is actually my favorite one, and was a lot of fun to make. It’s a Snow White inspired dress, and was the dress CT wore as her actual costume for the Mickey’s Not So Scary Halloween Party at Disney World. It’s super lightweight and very flowy, great for spinning apparently. A bunch of people called CT Snow White throughout the day, and after awhile she started to love that (I think she was a bit confused at first).

So the changes to this dress are very similar to the changes on the Marvel dress. I used the waistband guideline as the cutline again. I also used a different colored fabric for the sleeves, which I appliqued the red stripes on myself since I couldn’t find the right material in stores. I also added white binding around the sleeves as the elastic casing. Oh and I added the little red bow. I felt very good after making this specific dress and hope I can make all the princesses for her eventually.

This dress seriously took me the longest to make. It had a bit more details, had to be more precise and I had to free hand the apron pieces. I basically just winged it all! Ha! The way I changed the pattern on this one was kinda like the Minnie Mouse dress. I placed the elastic casing on the outside of the dress again, but this time I placed the apron pieces underneath the casing to make it look like all one piece. Because of the gathering around the neck, the apron pieces were only attached at the waist, their loose everywhere else. That way it laid flat. I didn’t attach the straps until I tried the entire thing on CT, that way I knew exactly how long to make them. It was a bit more work, but I’m beyond happy with the outcome. If I ever do it again, I’ll add some white casing to the armholes and some ruffles on the apron.

These dresses took me an entire week to make, but I’m happy I made them all. I think having themed dresses just added that little touch to our trip that we’ll remember for years to come!

Edit: I forgot the best part!!!… each dress cost me on average about $6 to make, and If I had a 50% off coupon for Joanns instead of the 30% off one I used, they would cost even less.

The Wonky Woodgrain above I actually created specifically for wallpaper, I really wanted the dark gray for my dining room. I ordered the swatch and was about to order the 8 huge rolls needed to do it, but then I changed my mind. I ended up painting the walls the same color, just no squiggly woodgrain lines. I’m still trying to find a place in my house for this paper… maybe as an accent wall? or in my soon to be new sewing room? I’ll figure it out.

I also created an alphabet wall decal set that coordinates with most of my girl themed monster fabrics. I actually ordered a set for CT’s room that I will show once we finish painting her room. (and that won’t be until we have a free weekend!!) Each letter is around 8″ tall. and can be cut out and configured anyway you like. The decals feel a lot like fabric is don’t rip easily, Oh and they can re-positioned numerous times! I’ve been testing them!

As you can tell from this post, I’m super excited! I just wish I had more time in the day to do all the projects I want to do. I would seriously make so many things out of wallpaper.

I have searched fan sites, google, etsy, flickr and pinterest for some inspiration. I think I may have searched too much, because now I’m overwhelmed with possibilities. I have to take into account my body shape, the weather and what I’ll actually feel comfortable in… Ugh!

Have you seen any on the internet that you think I may like? That won’t take me forever to make? I still have to make CT’s costume too! I’m also stumped with hers, more because she can’t decide, not because I can’t make it.

As I’ve said before, we are a nerdy household. There is a lot of comic books, comic book clothes, and comic book art everywhere. CT has grown up around this, so of course she likes it all too. She pretends her blankets are capes, she has little people super heroes and if you put her in a comic book shop she can name off about a dozen characters perfectly.

Don’t worry, she also loves princesses, dressing up and everything else girly. CT is a very well rounded toddler.

Her 2nd birthday is coming up soon. Next Sunday to be exact. I really wanted to make her a few of her gifts, something she would actually enjoy and play with. I’ve been thinking about it for awhile actually, and I ended up choosing a cape and shield.

I started with the shield. I wanted to do an actual Captain America’s shield, all red white and blue, but apparently I forgot to buy blue felt. I had a horribly stressful time the last time I went to Joanns (xmas shoppers are CRAZY), So I just said “whatever” and made it Red, White and Pink.

Want to know what the coolest part about this shield is?

It’s form is made with help from a frisbee!!! Yep, I thought of this while picking up CT toys one day. I didn’t know if it would actually work, so I was pleasantly surprised when it did!

Would you like to make your own? I made sure to take photo’s while I was putting this together. So if your interested, keep reading…